Blog: Where the Sword Ferns grow

On my 19,947th day on earth, I learned something that came as a complete surprise: I am not invincible to injury. Racing down Mount Constitution in early October, the medial meniscus at the back of my knee detached from the bone with an unmistakable (but not painful) “pop.” A month later, I broke my arm.

With a minimum of six weeks of restriction from sports, it was the right time to attempt a quest I’d been contemplating for several years: hike all 57 miles of trails in the Anacortes Forest Lands (ACFL). Doing so would allow me to stay in some semblance of shape as well as traverse several miles of unexplored trails.

I decided to begin at Heart Lake, the area with the flattest, fewest trails (10 miles); move to Little Cranberry (17 miles); and finish up at Whistle, which boasts the steepest, most (30 miles) trails.